


This Mortal Coil

by Salfur



Series: Broken Souls AU [2]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Jasper is scared and confused, Light Angst, Minor Body Horror, Monsters, Not exactly a monster transformation, but also kinda one?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 07:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20060143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salfur/pseuds/Salfur
Summary: Jasper contemplates his existence on Spooky Island.Takes place after Season 4 Episode 6.





	This Mortal Coil

Since he died, Jasper has had a lot of time to think.

He often found himself lost in thought about what the afterlife was like, if there even was one. These thoughts seemed to have been popping up more frequently as of recent. Specifically, after he told Max and his friends about how he died. Surely they passed his message onto David, right? He sighed, maybe he had more unfinished business than he originally thought? It was possible, but the boy didn’t know what it could possibly be.

He barely even knew how ghosts came to be. Obviously, someone has to die. Then their soul somehow gets trapped on the mortal plane for one reason for another. Maybe it’s because of the improper burial of their bones. Or some sort of unfinished business. Perhaps it’s a mix of both or neither. The reasons weren't really known, even to ghosts themselves. It's not like they can just go and ask someone since most people don’t believe in ghosts, and Jasper can’t say that he blames them. Hell, even he didn’t believe in them when he was alive. Of course, that was quick to change once he became one himself. He just wished he knew the exact reason why he was cursed to haunt Spooky Island. If he did know then he’d have moved on ages ago.

The boy sighed as he looked out into the lake. How long was he going to wander the mortal realm? He’s already been stuck on that Godforsaken island for fourteen years. Had he still been alive he’d be in his twenties by now. It seemed like a long time to be dead, but time works differently for ghosts. A single month often felt like a single day, especially when Jasper had a lot of trouble interacting with the physical world when it wasn’t the night of the new moon. So, to Jasper, it really only felt like half a year had passed since he died. He could barely begin to imagine what an eternity would feel like when fourteen years barely felt like half a year.

The boy wondered if David was doing any better. He chuckled to himself. Knowing David, he was enjoying everyday working at that stupid camp. Jasper wondered what he’d be doing now if he were still alive. Maybe if they didn’t have that stupid fight he would have kept in touch with the redheaded boy. Jasper no doubt would have been dragged along back to Camp Campbell as a co-counselor. He sighed, maybe in another life. He guesses that one good thing that came of the fight was that he didn’t drag David down with him. He might have felt mad and even betrayed at the time, but, dang, he didn’t want him _dead_. Ultimately, he didn’t hold a grudge towards David. After all, they were just a pair of stupid kids when Jasper died. Sure, their friendship wasn’t the healthiest, but it wasn’t like it was the sole fault of David. Jasper was mature enough to admit that they were both pretty terrible to each other.

Campbell on the other hand… 

Jasper scowled. He will never understand how anyone, especially David, could trust that man, let alone look up to him. Like, did David just forget that Campbell was fully willing to let him be eaten by bears?! Jasper clenched his fists. This was all Campbell’s fault. What kind of person fills a cave with explosives?! Jasper felt a dull migraine begin to form on the front of his head. He brushed the feeling aside, too engrossed in his thoughts to question how he, a ghost, could get a migraine. He was _this _close to getting the proof he needed to send that man to jail where he belongs. But no, he just had to die and get stuck on this stupid island!

The boy kicked away a nearby rock before suddenly clutching his head. He didn’t think it was possible for a ghost to feel pain. Jasper shut his eyes tight as he felt the headache intensify and attempted to block out the feeling of his head being split open. The burning pain brought back unwanted memories of the Order of the Sparrow ceremony. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes as the boy remembered the feeling of being dragged away by that bear. He clutched the front of his shirt tightly as he clenched his teeth, feeling as if he were being torn open by the animal’s claws all over again. The pain from his forehead seemed to have stopped for the time being, but it left the boy gasping for breath he did not need.

“What was that?” Jasper asked. The boy looked around in an effort to identify anything that looked like it could have caused his sudden pain, but found nothing. He groaned, “And why does it feel like my bangs are stabbing my eye?” The boy attempted to shake his bangs out from his eyes, but the action only aggravated his eye more. He closed his eyes in an attempt to relieve himself of the annoyance as he fixed his bangs, but found that it didn’t help.

Brushing his hair aside, the boy noticed that he could still see, despite his eyes being closed. He furrowed his brows in confusion as he looked around. Everything looked… off. It was almost like he was looking at the world in greyscale except he could see the glowing blue silhouettes of some nearby animals. Slowly, Jasper brought a finger towards his forehead and saw as it approached. His own hand wasn’t glowing blue and he wasn’t sure if it was because he was a ghost or if it was because it was his hand. Despite this fact, his fingers still didn’t look quite right. His nails were longer than he remembered and seemed to curve into a sharp point. He quickly pulled his hand back, afraid he’d somehow hurt himself. 

Jasper’s eyes shot open. Instantly, the world returned to full color. The explosion of color seemed to nearly blind him and he shut his eyes tight as he shook his head to clear his vision. The boy then slowly reopened his eyes, and, ignoring the feeling of hairs stabbing his eye, looked down at his hands. His brows furrowed as he brought his hands closer for inspection. Twisting his hand, he found that the only difference was that his nails almost looked like short claws. Jasper was beginning to freak out, which was something he hadn’t done in quite a while. He shot up as he realized that he nearly forgot about the strange pricking from his bangs and rushed over to the reflective surface of Lake Lilac. The boy scrambled to his knees beside the water and tentatively parted his bangs, revealing a third eye in the middle of his forehead.

Jasper barely registered that he was hyperventilating as he stared into the large eye. Unlike his original two, this eye was rotated 90 degrees. Upon uncovering his eye, Jasper noticed something that he had missed earlier. Everything seemed to be doubled, as if he were permanently crossing his eyes. One of the doubles was in greyscale as the other was in normal color. The boy grimaced before covering his forehead back up, fixing his double vision. His bangs didn’t actually do much to hide the eye since he could still see some of the whites of it below his bangs. But at least it stopped the weird greyscale.

“Okay,” he breathed, “there’s probably some logical explanation for this. Well, as logical as being a ghost is, anyways.” He took a shaky breath, “Maybe-Maybe this is just a ghost thing. Y-yeah, that makes sense, right?” Jasper attempted to recall his knowledge of ghosts, but sadly, all he really had to work with were the stereotypes he’d seen on TV. The boy groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Oh, who am I kidding? This isn’t a ghost thing!”

He sighed as he unburied his face and looked back down at the lake. He nearly missed it, but Jasper noticed that his teeth looked off. Gulping, he slowly opened his mouth. At first glance, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until he looked closer. He found that his canines seemed to have gotten sharper and longer, along with his molars. Even his incisors looked to be slightly tipped at the ends, though not to the same degree of his canines. Jasper went to poke his teeth, as if touching them would reveal that it was just an illusion. The boy quickly closed his mouth and curled into a ball, clutching the back of his head, as panic overtook him.

What was happening to him?


End file.
